Bug Forums Guidelines

(Sticky / Locked)

Please be advised that this is not a discussion forum. This forum is a direct line of communication to Blizzard Entertainment's Quality Assurance Department to report issues. Unless a moderator asks for more information, all the critical information of a post should be contained in the subject and first post.
Every post will be responded to in some fashion before being locked. When a thread is locked, it means we have sufficient information on the issue and won't require any further assistance.

The stickies at the top of the Bug Report Forum contain valuable information to assist you. Please read them before doing anything.

Invalid PostsSince we are strictly interested in issue reports on this forum, the following threads are likely to be deleted immediately:
1. Discussion threads (What do you all think?)
2. Invalid issue reports
3. Feedback / Suggestion threads.
4. Posts requesting information on the game.
5. Posts made on other forums (Don't spam.)
6. "Accomplishment" threads, threads to advertise screenshots unrelated to bug reports, and other "This happened on the server" posts
7. Posts requesting status updates on existing issues.

Bug Reporting Guidelineso Any time you encounter a suspected bug in the game, you should contact a GM via the in-game petition system. Many issues can be rectified immediately by a GM.
o State if custom UI mods are being used. Try and test bugs with NO UI MODS INSTALLED.
o Supply screenshots where applicable.
o Provide as much information as possible, give full names of NPCs, abilities or locations that are involved in the bug. Give ability descriptions as well. *DO NOT ASSUME* that the QA person on duty knows what you are talking about.
o Use proper English, do not use slang, abbreviations or other unclear language when describing the issue. We can not address bug reports that we do not understand.
o Create a single thread for each issue, lists of bugs are difficult to track and respond to, if you have multiple bug reports please verify that there are not already threads on them and then post them each in their own thread.

Creating a Bug ThreadWhen reporting a bug, we would like you to take the time and search the forum to see if your issue is already reported. While we won't delete duplicate reports, it will save us time if you know the issue is already posted and do not repost it. Using keywords (such as a unique element of a crash log or an ability name) is a good way to find threads.
If you haven't found anything, start a new thread with your issue and put [BUG] in the subject while being as descriptive as possible. Additionally, if you have multiple issues, separate them into different threads. Unique bugs should get unique threads.
Try to include steps to reproduce your problem. Be succinct. Leave out any opinions on the problem and focus on how best to tell us about it to help resolve the issue.

Crash Logs & System ProfilesIf you have an assertion or game crash, it is extremely important that you copy and paste the crash log into your thread.
Graphic, performance, or other hardware related issues should include a DXDiag (PC) or a System Profile (Mac) of your computer so that we can see what unique configuration you are utilizing as well as your driver information. Most graphical problems are related to video drivers that haven't been updated, so if you encounter a problem, double check that you have the most up-to-date drivers. A screenshot showcasing your issue is also beneficial to have if you have a way to deliver it to Blizzard safely, such as a third-party image hosting site.

To obtain a DXDiag:
- Click on the Start button and select Run. (For Vista Users, press the Windows Key (the key with the Windows logo on your keyboard) + R (at the same time) and skip to step 3)
- In the Open: field type in dxdiag and click the OK button.
- Click Save All Information, then open the file and copy the information into a single post (as much as is allowed).

To obtain a System Profile:
- Click on the Apple at the top-left of your OS and select About This Mac, then More Information
- The System Profiler should open. Save all the information as a Plain Text or RTF file, then open it.
- Copy all the information and place it into the thread reporting your issue.

Blizzard takes Cheating in any form very seriously and we do everything we can to prevent this unwanted behavior. In order to minimize the proliferation of these types of activities we do not comment on them and do not want these issue reported in the public forums. Reports in this forum on these issues will be deleted.

Please report any form of cheating, hacking or exploiting to the in-game GMs or via this web-form:

Please do not Bump threads, please do not spam new threads on the same issue.

All posts in this forum are read by a member of the QA team in the order that it is posted. Bumping threads or spamming new threads on an issue does not help your issue get addressed any faster. Instead Bumping and Spamming slows down our process and delays bugs getting fixed.

Feedback & Suggestions

We want to hear your feedback, but it needs to be placed in the right forum! All posts should go on the Suggestions forum, located here:

Noteworthy feedback will be moved automatically in case it was erroneously posted here, but other threads may be deleted.

FAQ

When will this bug be fixed?

As soon as QA has identified a bug and steps for reproducing that bug, we pass it on to the development team to fix. Bugs are usually fixed in order of severity and unless the bug is severe enough to merit a hotfix (a fix immediately patched into the game), its fix is usually implemented in an internal version for QA to test thoroughly before public release. This means that typically, known bugs are already fixed in the internal version that QA is testing in preparation for the next patch, but are still active on the current live version of the game.

I have a problem with the Armory, can I report it here?

All issues with the Armory should be reported via the “Report an Error” link on each armory page.

Why was my post deleted?

Please see the Rules and Policies section detailed above.

How do I submit more information about the crash I received?

When your World of Warcraft client receives a critical assertion (crash) it creates two files inside the Errors folder of your main World of Warcraft directory. One is a crash log that is a text file (.txt suffix) and the other is a memory dump file (.dmp suffix). These files are named with the date and time of the crash. For most bugs posting the crash log is sufficient information for our programmers to start fixing the problem. So when submitting a crash report, please copy the text inside the relevant crash log and paste it into your bug submission topic. Also your system information may be needed in order to better understand the bug. To generate your system information you can go to Start Menu, Run, and then type dxdiag. Let this diagnostic run click the Save All Information and paste this info into your bug submission post.

How can I help QA research known bugs?

The first thing a player should do when researching a bug is to attempt to reproduce it. Once you feel you can reproduce it consistently, it is time to start narrowing down the steps that cause this bug to reproduce. From here you can then see what other conditions the bug can be reproduced in. For example if there is a problem with a spell on a certain MOB, maybe there are other MOBs this affects? Or possibly there are other similar spells that exhibit this behavior? As QA we cannot stress enough the importance of gathering all relevant information which includes taking screenshots where applicable.

While balance discussion is a valid topic and Blizzard cares about player feedback, the bug report forum is not the place for this type of discussion. The class specific forums or general discussion forum is more suited for balance discussions where it is more likely to catch developments eyes.

The class forums are full of posts on this issue why hasn’t it been addressed?

QA does not actively monitor any of the class forums, if an issue has not been posted here in the bug report forum it can not be guaranteed to have been seen by QA.

Why hasn’t anyone at Blizzard acknowledged this issue?

Unfortunately with the very large volume to reports we receive QA does not have time to respond to every single post. Generally we only respond to a post if we need more information about a report, or if we have confirmed that an issue will be fixed in an upcoming patch.

Why isn’t this issue on the Known Issues list?

Most often this is because the issue is still being investigated, until we are confident that an issue is understood it will not be listed on the Known Issues post.